An elderly Chinese grandmother, suspected to have been a target of a hate crime in the United States, has raised close to S$1 million in donations from the public.

A GoFundMe page was started by the elderly woman's grandson, who wanted to raise funds for his grandmother's medical treatment and therapy following her assault.

24,000 donors and counting

In total, some 24,000 donors have pledged to give money to the elderly woman.

The fund hit close to US$700,000 (S$939,680) as of March 20, 4:20am, Singapore time, after just a day of going live.

The original target was US$50,000 (S$67,120).

Brief background

A 39-year-old Caucasian man assaulted a 76-year-old Chinese woman in San Francisco -- only for the tables to turn.

The elderly Asian woman retaliated by beating up her younger attacker with a wooden plank she found on the road, and putting the man on a stretcher.

For her successful defence, the elderly woman has been applauded for standing up against a racist bully.

Many who saw the video of the aftermath of the incident sympathised with her.

https://twitter.com/DennisKPIX/status/1372241168663076864

Praised for standing up to bully

The elderly woman, Xie Xiaozhen, originally from Guangdong, was reportedly waiting to cross the road on Wednesday, March 17, when a white man in his 30s yelled “Chinese” and punched her in the face.

A video clip of Xie crying out in Cantonese, "You bum, why did you hit me?", while holding an ice bag to her bruised face as her assailant laid on a stretcher with blood dripping from his mouth, exploded all over Chinese internet.

Mainland Chinese media, People’s Daily and Global Times, latched on to the news and reported on it to widespread applause from their readers.

Many of those who saw the news said they believed Xie was targeted because of her race.

The video of the elderly grandmother singled out for abuse and injured also led many to express that they felt “sorry”, “sad” and “heartbroken”.

Numerous incidents of Asians in the U.S. being targeted for abuse have been reported recently.

Donation page started by grandson

The donation page stated that Xie suffered two bruised eyes, with one eye bleeding non-stop initially.

The elderly woman has been traumatised, and now fears going out on the street, the donation page stated as well.

She is also said to be crying and emotional following the attack.

An update on the elderly woman's condition said she has stabilised and her eyes were better, but she remains "extremely emotional".